Similarities and differences in the flow patterns and void fraction in vertical upward and

downward two phase flow

Swanand M. Bhagwat, Afshin J. Ghajar
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-5016, USA

1. Introduction
The gasliquid two phase flow finds its practical application in the field of chemical engineering for
mass transfer, in the energy sector for heat transfer and in the petroleum industry for the
simultaneous transportation of the oil and natural gas. The flow patterns and the void fraction are
one of the key parameters in two phase flow. The two phase flow in vertical pipes is symmetrical
about the pipe axis and is governed by the interaction between the liquid inertia, buoyancy,
gravity and surface tension forces. Significant amount of research has been done in the field of
flow patterns and void fraction of vertical upward two phase flow while comparatively less
literature is available for downward orientation. Both vertical upward and downward two phase
flow were studied by Golan [1], Beggs [2], Mukherjee [3], Nguyen [4] and Oshinowo and Charles
[5]. Oshinowo and Charles [5] presented a description of the differences observed in the vertical
upward and downward two phase flow. It was observed in the present study that the structure of
the bubbly and slug flow regimes, to be more precise the size, shape and motion of the gas phase
in these two phase flow patterns is different than that observed in the vertical upward flow. The
relationship between the void fraction and the gas volumetric flow fraction, the void fraction and
slip ratio was studied and observed to be different for up and down flow, respectively. There are
numerous void fraction correlations reported in the literature, however their accuracy against a
comprehensive data set is not verified yet. The endeavor of this study is to verify the performance
of the different void fraction correlations against a comprehensive data set of 1208 data points for
vertical upward flow and 909 data points for downward flow.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Flow visualization
The literature review shows that the major flow patterns observed in the vertical upward and
downward two phase flow are bubbly, slug, froth, churn, falling film and annular flow. The churn
flow is not observed in the downward orientation and the falling film flow is a unique type of flow
pattern occurring only in vertical downward two phase flow. The flow visualization carried out in
the present study is in agreement with those reported by other investigators. The qualitative
description of the flow patterns observed in our experimental investigation is summarized below.
3.1.1. Bubbly flow. The bubbly flow is characterized by the significant coupling between the two
phases and consists of the gas as a discrete phase entrained into a continuous liquid phase. For
vertical upward flow Godbole et al. [11] observed the bubbly flow at low gas and high liquid flow
rates, with very small bubbles dispersed uniformly in the liquid phase and distributed throughout
the pipe cross section as shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is referred to and discussed in more detail in the
later part of this section. Oshinowo and Charles [5] reported that the bubbles speed and size
increased with the increase in liquid and gas flow rates. For vertical upward flow the liquid inertia
and the buoyancy force on the gas phase act in the same direction of the mean flow, in other
words the liquid inertia assist the gas bubbles to rise in the vertical upward direction resulting into
the increased velocity of the gas bubbles. The increase in the bubble size observed by Oshinowo
and Charles [5] may be due to the reduction in the hydrostatic pressure and hence the expansion
of the bubble volume. The definition of the bubbly flow remains same for vertical downward
orientation, but in contrast to vertical upward two phase flow, the liquid inertia and the buoyancy

force act in the direction opposite to each other and thus the gas phase resists the liquid flow. For
vertical downward flow the bubbles are observed to be concentrated in the near axis region of the
pipe while the near wall region consisted of single phase liquid. This phenomenon is referred to as
coring and is governed by the balance between the turbulent dispersion, lateral lift and wall
repulsion forces. More details about this force interaction on the gas bubbles can be obtained
from Shawkat et al. [12] and Troshko and Hassan [13]. A notable effect of increasing gas and liquid
flow rates on the bubbles size, shape and distribution across the pipe cross section was observed.
The flow visualization concluded that at constant gas flow rate and with increasing liquid flow
rates the dominant liquid inertia force shear down the bubbles, disintegrating them into smaller
size bubbles and evenly distributing them across the pipe cross section. As shown in Fig. 2, it is
apparent that with increasing liquid flow rate, the gas bubbles increased in number, reduced in
size and attained spherical shape. The arrows shown in Fig. 2 indicate the increase in spread of
bubbles across the pipe cross section with increasing liquid flow rate. It is evident from Fig. 3, that
the increasing gas flow rate at constant liquid flow rate rendered the bubbles to elongate in the
lateral direction and governed the transition from bubbly to the slug flow.
3.1.2. Slug flow. For both vertical up and down flow the slug flow was observed to be
characterized by the intermittent flow of the long elongated gas slugs. The slug diameter was
found to be comparable to that of the pipe diameter. In vertical upward flow the cylindrical and
bullet shaped gas bubbles referred to as Taylor slugs pointing in the direction of the mean flow
were observed by Godbole et al. [11]. They observed that at a constant gas flow rate the length of
the Taylor slug and the slug rise velocity decreased with increasing liquid flow rate. These
observations are consistent with those reported by Oshinowo and Charles [5]. Godbole et al. [11]
observed that the slugs due to their higher velocity push the liquid in front of them towards wall
which falls as a film on the pipe surface. The appearance of the slug flow was observed to be quite
different in vertical downward flow. As mentioned earlier, for vertical downward orientation, the
buoyancy force acts in the upward direction and opposite to the mean flow and hence for low
values of the gas and liquid flow rates gas slugs similar to bullet shaped Taylor slugs were
observed but with comparatively blunt nose. The difference in the slug nose for upward and
downward flow is evident from Figs. 4 and 6, respectively. With increasing gas and liquid flow
rates, as a consequence of the balance between the buoyancy and inertia forces both ends of the
gas slug appeared flat. Finally for the further higher gas and liquid flow rates and hence due to the
dominant liquid inertia force, the gas slug was observed to be flowing with the bubble nose
pointing in the vertical downward direction. These observations are consistent with those
reported by Sekoguchi et al. [14]. Martin [15] observed a distorted slug in large diameter pipes for
downward two phase flow. He concluded that for large diameter pipes the slug attempts to rise
upward as a consequence of buoyancy force and moves offset to the pipe axis following the path
of least resistance. Martin [15] quantitatively defined the distorting effect of the pipe diameter on
the slug as Eo > 90, where Eo is Eotvos number.
3.1.3. Froth and churn flow. In the upward flow with the increase in the gas flow rate the gas slugs
disintegrate and merge with the liquid forming the qualitatively turbulent mixture. While in case
of the downward orientation, distorted slugs are observed with liquid forcing them to move in the
direction of the mean flow. Froth and churn flow are difficult to distinguish from one another due
to their chaotic nature and frothy appearance. In the present study churn flow was not observed
in the vertical downward orientation. This is in agreement with the reports of Golan [1], Oshinowo
and Charles [5], Usui and Sato [16] and Yamazaki and Yamaguchi [17]. However, Yijun and

Rezkallah [6] have documented the existence of the churn flow in vertical downward two phase
flow.
3.1.4. Falling film flow. Falling film flow is a unique type of flow observed for low gas and liquid
flow rates and appears only in vertical downward two phase flow. It is characterized by a wavy
liquid film gliding down smoothly over the pipe surface and gas phase flowing through the core
region. It was observed that with the increasing gas flow rate the bubbles entrained the liquid film
occasionally creating dry spots on the pipe surface as shown in Fig. 5. These observations are in
agreement to those of Oshinowo and Charles [5]. They called the falling film flow with the bubble
entrainment as the bubbly falling film flow with the entrainment of the gas bubbles on the liquid
surface. In the perspective of the appearance of falling film flow, it is comparable to the stratified
flow often encountered in the horizontal and near horizontal inclinations.
3.1.5. Annular flow. The annular flow in both upward and downward flows is a separated type of
flow with no direct coupling between the two phases. The annular flow was observed as a gas core
surrounded with continuous liquid film adjacent to the pipe wall. In the literature there is no
quantitative distinction between the falling film and annular flow. Qualitatively it can be noted
that the annular flow is a chaotic and turbulent version of the falling film flow. The gas flow
through the core and liquid adjacent to the pipe wall is at high flow rates and appears to be more
turbulent as compared to a falling film flow. It should be noted that the term turbulent used here
is in qualitative and not the quantitative context. In the upward annular flow it was observed that
the gas phase in the core region moves faster than that of the surrounding liquid film while for
downward flow the liquid phase appeared to be moving faster than that of the gas phase. The
plausible justification for this observation is that, for the upward orientation annular flow occurs
for the high gas and liquid flow rates. The buoyancy force always acts in the upward direction.
Furthermore in annular regime the gas flows through the core without any resistance offered by
the liquid phase. The liquid phase being heavier than the gas phase is influenced by the gravity
forces thus rendering into its slower velocity compared to the gas velocity. Whereas for the case of
downward orientation, liquid moves faster under the influence of gravity and high inertia in
comparison to the gas phase. Literature reports that at high gas velocities the gas tends to shear
down the liquid film adjacent to the pipe wall resulting into the entrainment of the liquid droplets
into the gas core region. Crawford and Weinberger [18], Golan [1], Mukherjee [3], Oshinowo and
Charles [5] and Yamazaki and Yamaguchi [17] observed such phenomenon and referred to it as
annular mist flow. However, in the present study it was difficult to observe any liquid entrainment
in the gas core.
In addition to these major flow patterns in vertical downward orientation Wang et al. [19] and
Troniewski and Spisak [20] observed a flow pattern recognized as stalactite flow pattern with
using airoil fluid combination. Troniewski and Spisak [20] described this flow pattern as the gas
phase dispersed in form of individual bubbles in the liquid with an additional liquid flow observed
inside the gas bubble and along the pipe axis. This flow pattern was not observed for other fluid
combinations except the air oil. Hence, the association of the stalactite flow pattern with highly
viscous fluid combination is anticipated. The major flow patterns appearing in vertical up and
down orientation and observed in the present study are show in Figs. 6 and 7.

Fig. 2. Effect of increasing liquid superficial velocity on bubble size shape and
distribution for vertical downward bubbly flow.

Fig. 3. Effect of increasing gas superficial velocity on bubble

size shape and distribution for vertical downward flow.

Fig. 4. Effect of increasing phase flow rates on the shape of bubble nose and motion
for vertical downward two phase flow.

Fig. 5. Falling film flow in vertical downward orientation

with and without air

Bubbly

Slug

Froth

Churn

Annular

Fig. 6. Flow patterns in vertical upward two phase flow from Godbole et al.

Bubbly

Slug

Froth

Falling film Annular

Fig. 7. Flow patterns in vertical downward two phase flow from Bhagwat
and Ghajar

Identification of flow regime in vertical upward airwater pipe flow using differential pressure
signals and elastic maps
H. Shaban, S. Tavoularis
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada

Dependence of flow regime on various effects. Numerous authors have confirmed the importance of the
diameter effect on flow regime (Rouhani and Sohal, 1983; Spedding et al., 1998). In fact, some flow regimes
may only appear in pipes with a certain range of diameters. For example, under certain conditions, bubbly
flows may not appear in pipes with diameters smaller than a critical value, although they would appear in
larger pipes (Taitel et al., 1980); similarly, slug flows cannot be sustained in pipes with diameters larger than
some limit (Hibiki and Ishii, 2003). Fluid density, surface tension and viscosity also have an important effect
on the flow regime in a pipe. System pressure greatly affects the gas density and, to a lesser extent, other
fluid properties. Brown et al. (1960), for example, found a strong effect of the gas phase density on the flow
regime transitions. Certain flow regimes may even be encountered exclusively at higher pressures but not at
lower ones.
Some authors have found that, under certain conditions, the flow regime may change along a pipe (Taitel et
al., 1980). For instance, a flow may be bubbly close to the location of air injection but may develop into slug
flow further downstream, whereas slug flows are usually accompanied by some churn flow close to the air
injection location. Air injection affects the inlet bubble size, but may also have an effect on the flow regime
further along the pipe. Bubble breakup and coalescence, which depend mainly on the bubble size and the
turbulence level, may result in regime change of bubbly and slug flows, whereas pressure changes may
induce changes of all flow regimes. In vertical upward flows, pressure decreases with increasing elevation,
but also drops due to viscous friction; this implies a decrease in gas density and a commensurate increase in
the gas superficial velocity with increasing elevation. Consequently, the flow pattern at a certain location in
the pipe would not only depend on inlet conditions, but also on the coupled actions of bubble
breakup/coalescence and pressure drop. For some conditions, gasliquid flows may not reach full
development even for very long axial pipe lengths (Liu, 1993; Lucas et al., 2005).